Chapter 3: Strike Force

The Gotham Police building was an impressive enough structure. I'd been inside only once before, when my mother had been killed. I'd only been a kid then, but the detailing of the ceiling and the large wooden desks that littered the floor had stuck with me. There was a balcony row which ran along two sides of the building, and I could remember watching the officers and officials up there years ago. I remember thinking that they were so important, so good at their job that they were the ones who got to stand up there and have everyone watch them, as though on a stage.
Now it was me stood up there.

In a line with my four other graduates, we looked straight ahead and listened as Barnes addressed us with a welcome speech.

"A wise cop once said, if you catch a kid smashing a window, even a small one, bust him. If you let it slide, he'll smash another one, then he'll tag a wall, steal a bike, rob a store, maybe hold someone up."
He paused and watched us carefully, as though daring any of us to disagree with him, "Crime unpunished is a crime in itself, this city is bleeding to death from the amount of free passes we hand out. Time to put a tourniquet over that wound. From now on, no one gets a free pass."

My eyes flickered only for a moment to watch Jim Gordon's reaction to all of this. Did he agree with Barnes? After all he'd been here long enough to see what had been going on, why had it taken Barnes coming in to put a stop to this? I briefly wondered whether Gordon had ever given out any free passes.

"What is a strike force for?" Barnes continued, "to send a message that this epidemic of lawlessness will no longer be treated, but extinguished. With extreme prejudice."

He gestured down to the table in front of us, "Gentlemen, ladies, your new uniforms."

We all looked down at the new black kit we'd been provided with. Down the line Luke immediately reached for the gun and started to assemble it. I picked through the uniform more carefully, fingertips stroking over the GCPD lettering stamped to the back of the bullet proof vest. Slowly, I pulled off my hoodie and put on the regulation long sleeved top, I strapped on my vest, it fit perfectly.
Josie nudged me and I shot her a smile, this was exactly what we'd been training for.

A man approached, and we all snapped into a bolt upright position again. He informed Barnes about a call, Councillor Caulfield was dead. First Galavan was attacked, now Caulfield. Barnes, Gordon and Bullock all left hurriedly, leaving us to finish collecting our things and moving them down to the locker rooms below the station.

It came back to us that Caulfield had been stabbed, repeatedly, and had probably died drowning in her own blood. A witness had reluctantly given up that the man was small, dressed fancy and walked funny. There was one name that came to mind… Penguin.

"But why would he want to mess with the election? He has enough power of his own surely?" I asked Luke and Sal as we gathered to make a pot of coffee.
"No clue, but you know who the next target probably is…" Sal replied.
"Hobbs," Luke nodded.

Jim only confirmed our suspicions when he returned. Hobbs was the next target, and we were on duty that night to steak out his apartment block. Hobbs was old-school, he firmly believed that the city needed him and was reluctant to take protection, not from the police, or from his team of mobsters that he kept on his payroll. He wouldn't go into hiding just because of some attacks on other councilmen or women, he wasn't a coward.

We set off to protect Hobbs that night, while piling into the van Luke gave me a smile, and I returned it weakly before looking out of the window of the bullet proof vehicle. The closer we got to the building block, the louder the sounds reverberated through Gotham's streets. Gunfire.

Flicking the siren on, the van streamed through the alleyway, and pulled up just in time to see Hobbs fleeing towards his car, only one bodyguard with him for back up. Where were the others? I didn't have to wait long to find out.

We all jumped out of the car, using the doors for protection, and Jim shouted over the truck's loud-speaker, "GCPD put down your weapons."

He emerged slowly out of the darkness. A tall man, two guns raised, the light from the building's windows reflecting on his bald head which I knew Luke would have found comical if he hadn't immediately open fired. A second passed and Jim returned the shot but hesitated, as though he recognised the target.

I stared at the back of Jim's head, then glanced to Harvey. Who even was in charge here?
Then Luke's voice sounded, cool and calm, instructive, "Fan out, flank him from both sides, catch him in our cross fire."
Harvey nodded before shouting, "Yeah! Do that!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

We spread out in formation. Covered by Jim, Luke went first. I ran down to the left, using the scaffolding as my cover, and Josie swung open a car door and ducked behind it. The assassin was relentless, even against all five of us plus Jim and Harvey. Josie's car window smashed but she ducked in time.

Preoccupied by our fire, the assassin couldn't stop Martinez covering Hobbs and pushing him back towards our vehicle. I thought we had the assassin as he jumped behind a car, but within seconds he was back out, firing like I'd never seen anyone fire before.

Time moved slowly, as he took step by step towards us. A bullet smashed Josie to the floor, and we all looked to Jim, bewildered. He wasn't firing. He wasn't doing anything.

I climbed through the scaffolding and shot, and so did Martinez. Sal never failed to hit a target.
A shot ripped through the target and I swear I heard the assassin groan, "Unexpected…"

He fell and I started to run towards him but was stopped short first by the sound of a gun shot, then by a smack in the ear.
Holy shit. Had I been shot in the head?

Time continued to tick by slowly. Though in reality it was a matter of seconds.
A loud ringing in my left ear. Luke's voice.
"Zadie are you alright!?"
I frowned, why was he calling me by my first name? Why was I so wet?

Water. Water was everywhere, a pipe had burst and it was streaming across the alley, creating a white curtain that the assassin moved backwards through and disappeared.

"Move, move, move," Luke said, and moved past me through the curtain of water with Pinkney to go after him while I turned. Seeing Josie on the floor snapped my senses back into focus.
She gasped, and with water covering us both I ripped off her vest. I pulled her to her feet, she panted and I placed a gentle hand on her back while she leaned on me.
Everyone gathered around us, "The shooter got away sir."
"You just met Victor Zsasz," Gordon replied, "he works for Penguin these days."
Harvey only reiterated what I'd been asking earlier that day, "What the hell is Penguin playing at?"

Back in the van I reached for a canteen of water and handed it to Josie, she sipped thirstily. Luke sat the other side of me, and shook his head, water droplets sprayed off hitting me in the face. He was panting, but I knew that it wasn't from the physical activity, it was adrenalin. It was in the air, a buzz, we all felt it, it was electric.

That night Luke and I barely got through the door to our apartment before tearing each other's clothes off.

Later, in the dark with my back to him, his arms curled around me, he kissed my left ear-lobe.
"Does it hurt?" he whispered, and I shook my head.
"No, the blast just took me by surprise a little."
"When the gun went off I thought he'd hit both Josie and you," he sighed, burrowing his face into my hair.
"That's hardly you're fault," I replied, knowing that he felt responsible since he'd suggested we fan out.
"No," he agreed, "it's Gordon's really, he had no control over the situation."
I nodded in reply and kissed his knuckles one by one, "We'll see what he has to say for himself tomorrow."

"That bullet had your name on it Jose," Pinkney chuckled as we all gathered round to examine the hole in her bullet vest. It was for the first time, and the closest any of us had ever come to real death. We'd all taken bullets before, on the training ground at the Academy. We all knew that it felt like being hit with the end of a lead pipe, that you would fall on your ass and have the wind knocked out of you. This was different. It was Zsasz or us, he wasn't just shooting at Josie so she'd knew what the real thing would feel like, this was the real thing.

"Obviously," Josie chuckled.
"Nah, I don't think so," Martinez smiled and patted her on the back.
"I'm serious," Josie replied.
"Hey you shouldn't be joking about near misses," Harvey said, "next bullet might get stuck right in your eye."
We all fell silent, and Martinez nodded, "Yes sir," speaking for all of us, who were just relieved that we'd made it through our first outing as a group, "no joking."

Barnes entered, "Alright gather round…"
"Today I'm giving the strike force its first real mission. Build a case to put away Gotham's enemy number one- time to take down the penguin."
I shot Luke a look, and he nodded with a small smile, then I looked at Gordon.
I could have been mistaken but I swear Gordon frowned.